SALT LAKE CITY – The number of COVID-19 cases in Utah rose 2,543 on Friday, with 12 more deaths reported, according to the Utah Department of Health.
The Department of Health now estimates that there are 55,374 active cases of the disease in Utah. The average continuous number of seven positive days a day is now 2,391, according to the health department. The positive daily test rate for that time period is now 25%, down one full percentage point from Thursday and down almost 8% from last week.
The state health department also announced Friday that a new, more contagious variant of COVID-19, which originated in the United Kingdom, has now been detected in Utah. The variant was detected in a man from Salt Lake County who gave positive results last month and is between 25 and 44 years old. The man had no known travel history outside of Utah and had only mild symptoms, according to the health department.
COVID-19 is believed to be effective against disease variation.
There are 584 COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized in Utah, including 210 in intensive care, state data show. About 93 percent of intensive care unit beds are occupied in Utah as of Friday, including about 95 percent of ICU beds in the state’s 16 referral hospitals, according to the health department. About 56% of non-ICU hospital beds are now occupied.
A total of 142,751 doses of vaccine were administered in the state, up from 133,202 on Thursday.
New cases on Friday indicate a 0.8% increase in positive cases on Thursday. Of the 1,884,601 people tested for COVID-19 in Utah to date, 17% tested positive for COVID-19. The total number of tests performed increased by 17,245 since Friday, and 12,985 of these were tests in people who had not been previously tested for COVID-19.
The 12 deaths reported on Friday are:
- Two men from Salt Lake County who were between 65 and 84 years old and were residents of long-term care units
- Two men from Salt Lake County who were between 65 and 84 years old and were hospitalized when they died
- Two men from Salt Lake County, aged 45 to 64, who were hospitalized when they died
- A man from Utah County who was over 85 years old and was hospitalized when he died
- A man from Washington County who was between 65 and 84 years old and a resident of a long-term care institution
- A man from Weber County who was between 65 and 84 years old and was a resident of a long-term care institution
- A woman in Salt Lake County who was over 85 years old and a resident of a long-term care facility
- A woman from Tooele County who was between 65 and 84 years old and was hospitalized when she died
- A woman from Weber County, who was between 65 and 84 years old and was not hospitalized when she died
Friday’s total offers Utah 320,102 confirmed cases in total, with 12,351 total hospitalizations and 1,472 total deaths from the disease. An estimated 263,256 cases of Utah COVID-19 are now considered recovered, according to the health department.
There is no COVID-19 press conference scheduled for Friday. Utah officials on Thursday gave an update on the pandemic at a news conference.
Methodology:
Test results now include data from PCR tests and antigen tests. Positive COVID-19 test results are reported to the health department immediately after confirmation, but negative test results cannot be reported for 24 to 72 hours.
The total number of cases reported daily by the Utah Department of Health includes all COVID-19 cases since the onset of the Utah outbreak, including those currently infected, those recovering from the disease, and those who have died.
Recovered cases are defined as anyone who was diagnosed with COVID-19 three or more weeks ago and did not die.
The referral hospitals are the 16 hospitals in Utah with the capacity to provide the best COVID-19 healthcare.
State-reported deaths usually occurred two to seven days before they are reported, according to the health department. Some deaths may come from the back, especially if the person is from Utah but died in another state.
The Department of Health reports both confirmed and probable deaths in the COVID-19 case, as defined by the State Council and Territorial Epidemiologists. The number of deaths may change as case investigations are completed.
For deaths that are reported as COVID-19 deaths, the person would not have died if they did not have COVID-19, according to the health department.
The data included in this story primarily reflects the state of Utah as a whole. For more localized data, visit the local health district website.
More information on Utah health guidance levels is available at coronavirus.utah.gov/utah-health-guidance-levels.
The information comes from the Utah Department of Health and coronavirus.utah.gov/case-counts. For more information on how the Utah Department of Health compiles and reports COVID-19 data, visit coronavirus.utah.gov/case-counts and scroll down to the “Data Notes” section at the bottom of the page.
Jacob Klopfenstein